Procrastinating, Kingdom Saving, and all other forms of Geekdom

Tag Archives: Eli Manning

I haven’t done a Random Thought of the Day post in a while. Today’s version will have a theme. I will be addressing certain places or things, giving my opinion on them. Let’s start off with one I think I’ve said before, but I can’t remember so I’m going to say it again.

By the way, I spend all day shipping packages all over the country so a lot of these have to do with city names. Continue reading →

I did a blog a while ago about feeling sorry for someone who really doesn’t need or deserve my pity (Dave Grohl). Now, I feel compelled to do another one. This time, I’m feeling sorry for Eli Manning. I know what you’re thinking: How can you feel sorry for Eli? His team just won the Super Bowl and he was just named as the Super Bowl MVP for the second time. He’s on top of the world right now.

The reason I feel sorry for Eli came to me as I watched him on Letterman Monday night. When the interview first started, it was all about the game and his team. Towards the end, the interview turned, as it always does, to questions about his brother Peyton. This annoyed me. I know that the fate of Peyton will be the biggest story of NFL’s offseason, but Eli and the Giants just won the Super Bowl. Couldn’t Dave leave Peyton out of it just once? Obviously not. Then I started thinking about all the pre-Super Bowl interviews that Eli did. Half of the questions he was asked were about Peyton’s health and his future with the Colts.

I know a little about this. twindaddy and I are only a year apart, so when we were younger, I usually had the same teachers he had the previous year. At the beginning of each year, I was bombarded with, “Aren’t you twindaddy’s brother?” We also spent some time working together at Hellmart. There were many times when I was called by his name by managers and fellow employees. Even after he had left, I was still getting called his name. It got to the point where I just went along with it, because I was tired of correcting people.

My experiences are nothing compared to what Eli has to endure, however. The more I think about it, the more I realize that no matter what Eli does for the rest of his career, he will still always be asked questions about Peyton. Eli could win every game, MVP award, and Super Bowl for the next 5 years, and he’ll still be asked questions about his older brother.

I know Eli will never say this, so I’ll say it for him: STOP ASKING ME QUESTIONS ABOUT MY BROTHER, YOU ASSHOLES!!

This popped into my head due to twindaddy’s national anthem post (it was sung right before one of the games I’m going to talk about). Over the years, I’ve watched some great Superbowl games. Of course, there have also been some crappy games. The Giants getting crushed by the Ravens in ’01, for example. I was at my friend’s house watching that one and I think we stopped watching halfway through the third quarter. I don’t think I can narrow the best game down to one, so I’m going with two.

1. Giants 20 – Bills 19

The first Superbowl I can remember seeing was in 1991. Back then, my favorite team was based on who my favorite player was. In 1991, it was Lawrence Taylor of the New York Giants. They were playing the Buffalo Bills, in what was turned out to be the first of Buffalo’s four straight Superbowl appearances. It was the only close game that Buffalo had in those four.

This was a hard fought, and very clean, game. There was no turnovers, and there was even a safety when Bruce Smith sacked Jeff Hostetler in the 2nd quarter. Thurman Thomas had a monster game, rushing for 135 yards on 15 carries, while also catching 5 passes for 55 yards. Had the Bills won the game, he would definitely have been the MVP of this game.

Unfortunately for Scott Norwood, and the Bills, his last second field goal attempt went wide right. I feel bad for Norwood, as this is how he’ll be remembered. In Norwood’s defense, it was a 47 yard attempt. That’s not an easy kick in any conditions.

2. Giants 17 – Patriots 14

I know most people who know me will say that I’m only picking this game because I hate the Patriots, but this was a really good game. The Giants defense did a good job of harassing Brady all game, and David Tyree made one of the best catches in Superbowl history on a play that everyone thought Eli Manning was going to get sacked.

Neither running game really got going in this game, as the teams combined for 136 rushing yards (91 for the Giants, 45 for the Patriots). Most of the offensive damage done was through the air.

The Tyree catch set up the Manning to Plaxico Burress touchdown pass with 35 seconds left to go in the game. Even 35 seconds is too long to give Tom Brady and the Patriots offense, but the Giants defense held, giving New England their first loss of the season.

Maybe I do like this game so much because I hate the Patriots, but I don’t care. This game was awesome.